Recommending and Expostulating Since 2010

Travels in the South: Day Three!

Monday dawned bright and early (well, around 10am for us). This was our last morning in Charleston, so we did one last shuffle down King Street, popped into Billy Reid to appreciate the awesomeness of the store’s decor and love on the duds, grabbed ourselves a commemorative Spoleto poster at Tidwell’s, and stopped by Caviar and Banana’s for some brunch. The breakfast portion was an Odwalla Superfood smoothie, banana, and coffee, and the lunch portion was a trio of cold salads including quinoa and pasta to eat in the car during our road trip of the day. I love Caviar and Banana’s because there are so many delicious options made fresh each day – the hardest part is deciding what to have! With food in hand we loaded up the car and headed out for the next leg of our trip.

I’ve been fascinated with Wadmalaw Island ever since I saw a picture of a party thrown at the FireFly Distillery and thought, “Those are some beautiful trees.” No joke. I love trees. I especially love trees in the South (something to do with the Spanish moss maybe?). So when I looked at the map and saw that in a kind of roundabout not-really-at-all way that Wadmalaw could be on the way to Savannah, I insisted we stop by.

Now, there’s not much to do on Wadmalaw. It’s one of the least inhabited of the islands that surround Charleston, but is therefore the most preserved, and home to one of the strongest Gullah communities remaining. Luckily for us, it also happens to house the only tea plantation in the United States: the Charleston Tea Plantation!

They also offered a free factory tour and samples, as well as the chance to stroll around the beautiful grounds.

Do you see those trees?? Beautiful!

The tea leaves growing quietly.

The Tea Plantation was truly lovely, and I’d definitely recommend stopping by. But another wonder was just a few miles back down the road (remember when I said that Wadmalaw wasn’t really on the way? as in, completely out of the way?), just over the bridge on John’s Island. There, if you follow Angel Oak Road, you’ll come to this:

The Angel Oak! Reputedly the oldest living thing east of the Rockies, estimated to be at least 1,500 years old.

Now that’s a tree.

From there we continued on along Highway 17, passing various towns and countryside, before taking a quick pitstop in Beaufort.

Beaufort’s a cute little town that has several picturesque houses, walkways, and streets. But really the highlight for us was seeing a chocolate lab running round with a leash but no human. I kind of wanted to take him with us, but he seemed to be on a mission.

Just a few miles out of town, we stopped at another “attraction” we’d heard about: the Old Sheldon Church Ruins.

Even though this was just a few miles off of Rt. 17, this was QUIET. And DESERTED. And a little eerie. We parked the car across the street in what looked to be the parking lot (really a clearing in the trees), and crossed over to see this:

Stunning. We got here just after 5pm and the light was breathtaking.

This was amazing, and our third free “attraction” of the day. Just goes to show you that you can travel cheaply and still have amazing experiences.

We hopped back in the car and drove the last hour to Savannah. By this time we were starving so we parked on Franklin Square and made our way to Vinnie Van Go-Go’s. The place was hopping, so we ordered a large Pesto to go, as well as a couple of Yuenglings to go. Two things: 1) I love that Yuengling is everywhere in the South – I’ve never found it north of Pennsylvania but it was seriously everywhere in South Carolina and Georgia, and 2) I love that you can drink outside in Savannah. In a plastic cup. Untethered to any official dining establishment.

With plastic cups of beer and large pizza box in hand, we found a spot in the City Market to sit down and inhale our pizza. Honestly, I don’t remember too much because I was eating so fast, but I do remember it was GOOD. Really good. Like I think at one point I was convinced that we should just eat pizza the entire time we were in Savannah. Mmm, pizza.

After eating, we dropped off our stuff at the Four Points Savannah, then drove over to our final activity of the day: the Sixth Sense Tour of Savannah. I’m a total sucker for scary movies, haunted houses, and ghost tours, and this did not disappoint. For almost two hours we wound through the historic streets and squares of Savannah, being regaled with tales of hags and haunts, ghosts and goblins. And murders. Real murders! Like at the Williams-Mercer House, where the story of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil took place, and where the real Mr. Williams lived until his death just a few years ago. The same house where two other mysterious deaths occured since the house was built nearly two hundred years ago. Creepy!

This is the fence that a little boy fell ON TO from the ROOF OF THE HOUSE forty years ago. Obvi he died (and damaged the fence in the process), and the owners since have always preserved it the way it was as a nod to the history of the home.

The tour was actually a really lovely way to see Savannah and get introduced to the unique culture of the city, and despite being eaten alive by mosquitos, a perfect way to end the day. On our way back to the car on Jones Street we ran into a cat sitting on the sidewalk, meowing loudly. I’m convinced that it was the ghost of Mr. Williams, haunting the area. We saw many kitties in Savannah, but this one was definitely a ghost 😉